Just One More Day to Go Until Conduit 2 Hits the UK!

In case you were wondering, I'm pretty excited about Conduit 2. This 'bigger, better and bolder' sequel to the original 2008 Wii shooter The Conduit is out in just one day over here in the UK, and is one of the few Wii games we're aware of coming out this year to warrant a purchase. Of course, that will all change at E3 2011 when Nintendo announces their next Wii game onslaught and apparently a new console codenamed 'Project Cafe'. More on that in a future post though - Let's get back to Conduit 2. The game launched in NTSC regions two days ago, and up until now it has received some pretty great feedback. When the game was first announced last year the developers promised a bigger and much better game than the 'love it or hate it' original, and now that part of the world has played the game it seems that High Voltage Software certainly weren't lying. With just one more sleep until PAL regions get their hands on Conduit 2, let's take a look at what the game has to offer.

The first Conduit game was a commercial failure. High Voltage hyped the game up a little too much and left fans disappointed at what they came out with: An admittedly bland corridor shooter with a pretty fun multiplayer mode. Now however, they've learned their lesson. Now that graphics aren't a huge focus in Conduit 2, High Voltage had a chance to expand the story levels and the online multiplayer to create a much better game. The story follows on directly from the original game, but that doesn't mean you'll have to play that to understand it. You play as Michael Ford, an agent who ended up getting involved in stopping a plot to invade Earth and for the most part succeeded. However, the evil man behind the invasion, Mr. Adams, managed to survive after the events of the original game and is still up to no good. He retreats to an abandoned oil rig and Ford chases after him in an attempt to end his evil doings once and for all. Yeah, it's not the greatest set-up, but this is a shooter with a focus on action packed gameplay and not an epic plotline.

The ridiculously massive Leviathan is one of the many alien bosses you'll be blasting.

Like I said, the first level takes place on an oil rig (or oil derrick if you're american) and acts as Conduit 2's tutorial. According to several reviews I've read about the game, it feels a lot more fun than most other tutorials, and actually fits in with the story. As it turns out, an evil robotic alien creature known as a Leviathan is causing havoc in the oil rig, and ends up destroying a Conduit that Adams escapes through earlier on in the level leaving Ford behind with the beast. It's unusual to have an epic boss battle in the very first level of a game, but High Voltage deliver. After taking out the Leviathan, Mr. Ford and his partner Prometheus (now trapped in the A.S.E, Ford's special alien device) have to pursue Adams through a variety of locations that span all across the world, rather than just one city like in the much more plain original. Story-wise, that's all I know. What? I wouldn't want to spoil it for myself, would I?

As well as a vast single player campaign that will take several hours to complete, Conduit 2 also contains online and offline multiplayer. The online play is basically a much upgraded version of what we saw in the original game. Still the same basic concept, returning levels and modes (alongside loads of new ones) but with much more added on, such as an enhanced levelling-up system and many new options to customise your player. On top of online play, you can also play offline in a splitscreen mode. Two modes are available offline, namely the regular deathmatch mode supporting 2-4 players, or the Horde mode inspired by Gears of War 2. Horde mode sounds much more interesting. In this mode, you and your friends have to eliminate waves of enemies with a set number of lives. This can apparently be quite competitive, as you have to battle it out to score more points than your opponents while also helping them out when they're outnumbered. Sounds thrilling, that's for sure.

Conduit 2's Gears of War inspired Horde mode looks brilliant. I can't wait to have a go at it!

Playing through the globe-spanning single player campaign and the multiplayer modes of Conduit 2 earn you in-game credits that you can use to customise your character in both types of play, another unusual concept for a game of its kind. This means you can play through the single player mode in the sidelines of the multiplayer earning credits to get ready for some online play, without worrying about taking the fight to the rest of the world and failing. It's when you decide to jump in online that matters. Naturally though, you can't level up your character in single player or earn the achievements exclusive to multiplayer. Yup, there's achievements too. Conduit 2 keeps sounding better and better, doesn't it? Unfortunately, there are some clear issues with the game that you notice before even playing it. First off, the new voice actors High Voltage have employed to voice the game's characters are atrocious, B-movie style vocals. Micheal Ford's voice actor is the main offender. The protagonist is played by the bloke who is well known as the voice of Duke Nukem, and he certainly sets the dial to 'annoy'. Prometheus' voice is pretty bad to in comparison to the first game, and Adams' one isn't too bad. Still, I don't see why they couldn't have used the same voice actors as the original game? Or at least find someone with less annoying vocal cords to play Mr. Ford.

So, there you have it. Will you be getting Conduit 2? Will you wait until it's cheap like me or not buy it at all? Leave your opinions in the comments, I won't bite! Until next time...